Ruler : Huvishka
Era : (155-190 CE)
Dynasty : Kushan
Mint : Mathura
Denomination : Reduced Tetradrachm
Weight :  8.75 g
Diameter :  22.4 mm
Book Reference : Pieper # 1794

Obverse :
King seated squatting, Crude Greek legend around.

Reverse :
Solar deity ‘Mithra’ standing facing left, Greek legend ‘MIIPO’ in right field, Tamgha in left field, Dotted border around.

Comment :
Huvishka was the emperor of the Kushan Empire from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 150 CE) until the succession of Vasudeva I about thirty years later.
His rule was a period of consolidation for the Empire. Huvishka’s territory encompassed Balkh in Bactria to Mathura in India, locations where it is known that he minted his coinage. His reign seems to have been essentially peaceful, consolidating Kushan power in northern India, and moving the centre of the Kushan Empire to the southern capital city of Mathura.
The coinage of Huvishka is characterized by a great variety of designs and the large quantity of gold coins that were minted: more gold coins from Huvishka are known than from all other Kushan rulers combined. The locations of his mints were mainly in Balkh and Peshawar, with smaller mints in Kashmir and Mathura.

One of the great remaining puzzles of Huvishka’s reign is the devaluation of his coinage. Early in his reign the copper coinage plunged in weight from a standard of 16g to about 10-11g. The quality and weight then continued to decline throughout the reign until at the start of the reign of Vasudeva the standard coin (a tetradrachm) weighed only 9g. The devaluation led to a massive production of imitations, and an economic demand for the older, pre-devaluation coins in the Gangetic valley. However, the motivation (and even some of the details) of this devaluation are still unknown. The coin offered here is a reduced weight tetradrachm issued by Huvishka. Very Scarce.